ICS boys have wait-and-see approach

The Immanuel Christian boys basketball team has three starters back from last year, but only one is available to play at the moment.

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By Brad KesterDI Sportsdisportsdesk@ridgecrestca.com

Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

By Brad KesterDI Sportsdisportsdesk@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Nov. 30, 2012 at 12:58 PM
Updated Nov 30, 2012 at 1:08 PM

By Brad KesterDI Sportsdisportsdesk@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Nov. 30, 2012 at 12:58 PM
Updated Nov 30, 2012 at 1:08 PM

The Immanuel Christian boys basketball team has three starters back from last year, but only one is available to play at the moment.

“I got my leading rebounder and second-leading scorer back (Paul Henderson), I have my leader in assists back (Dillon Cromwell) and I kind of call Joseph (Slatkovsky) my all-around player,” ICS Coach Garry Noel said. “He doesn’t lead the team in any specific category, yet fills up every single one, every single game. If we get Dillon and Joseph back, we’ll be fine in league.”

With those three on the floor, Noel said the team will be in good hands. Henderson averaged 8.8 points per game, had 26 blocked shots and averaged 11.1 rebounds per game for the Crusaders a season ago. Cromwell averaged 3.9 points per contest and had 27 steals. Slatkovsky averaged 4.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest.

“I’ve got a good core to build around,” Noel said. “If I have that nucleus, I can insert the new guys slowly. With a ball handler, a center and all-around player to build around, and having Kenny (Witham) as the guy that can do all the dirty work, we can be pretty good.”

Witham was the Crusaders’ best player in the team’s first game against Lone Pine on Tuesday.

“He’s very smart and he’s starting to learn how to play the game,” Noel said. “If he can play at a high level for us, then that adds another solid player to our core group.”

As of right now, however, the Crusaders are very inexperienced with Cromwell and Slatkovsky missing. Only one player other than the top four has any experience at the varsity level.

“Alden Burk is a freshman, Caleb Szynthack is also a freshman, Elias Witt is a sophomore who is brand new to the team, Garrett Johnson is a junior who is brand new to the team and Andrew Chumchal played last year, but didn’t get a ton of playing time,” Noel said. “So we’ll lack experience if those other guys can’t play.”

Noel said he wanted to work the inexperienced guys in slowly, but that is not the way things turned out.

“Right now, without Dillon and Joseph, they’re getting thrown to the wolves,” Noel said. “But, having said that, Alden has some natural ability. Give me two years with him and he’ll be a good ball player. They’re all getting experience, so that’ll help us in the future.”

It may be tough to throw some players out there when they aren’t ready, but they’ll have to learn some time by getting game action. This early-season game action with two of the starters missing has given Noel a chance to assess what the team needs to work on within his read-and-react offense in a four-out set.

Page 2 of 2 - “What I did to get them going against Lone Pine in our first game is I told them all I want for them to do is pass and cut. Once we started passing and cutting, we started getting shots,” Noel said. “We have a bunch of youngsters playing right now, so until Dillon (Cromwell), Joseph Slatkovsky, can come back, it’ll be a learning experience for our young players.”

The Crusaders also worked on ball handling, passing and on shifting their zone defensively on Wednesday.

“It could really go either way this season,” Noel said. “If we don’t get all our players back, we’ll just learn the game and learn from our mistakes. If we get our guys back, I think we can win the Hi-Lo this year. We’ll see how it all unfolds.”